Men's Basketball | 12/30/2025 8:00:00 PM

Game #16
Who | Utah Tech (8-7, 1-0 WAC) at Abilene Christian (8-5, 0-0 WAC)
When | Thursday, Jan. 1 – 6 p.m. MT
Where | Moody Coliseum – Abilene, Texas
Broadcast | ESPN+ / 99.5 FM The Fan Sports Network
Social Media | Instagram + Twitter (X) + #UtahTechBlazers

SCOUTING THE ABILENE CHRISTIAN WILDCATS
Abilene Christian went 8-5 in non-conference action and open WAC play against the Trailblazers on Thursday.

Coming off a 75-68 win at Texas Southern on Dec. 22 in their last outing, ACU is 5-0 at home this season with wins over McMurray, Omaha, Southwestern Adventist, Jarvis Christian and New Mexico State.

ACU also has wins over UTSA & Pepperdine and has played a pair of top teams on the road in No. 1 Arizona and No. 10 BYU.

Coming off a 16-16 overall record, the Wildcats tied for fourth in the WAC regular season standings a season ago and were selected third in this season's preseason poll.

Abilene Christian ranks third in the WAC in assists per game (14.2), scoring defense (69.7), steals per game (9.8), three point percentage (33.2) & turnovers forced per game (15.38).

Individually, senior forward Bradyn Hubbard, a preseason All-WAC selection and the reigning WAC Player of the Week, checks in third in the conference in free throw percentage (78.9), fourth in points per game (15.9) & seventh in field goal percentage (42.8).

Redshirt sophomore guard Cbo Newton, a transfer from Grambling, earned WAC Freshman of the Week on Dec. 22 is third on the team averaging 9.3 points per game while senior guard Rich Smith is second in the conference averaging 4.4 assists per game & third in assist/turnover ratio at 1.77.

SERIES HISTORY VS. ABILENE CHRISTIAN
This will be Utah Tech's eighth meeting against Abilene Christian with the Wildcats leading the series, 7-0.

ACU is 4-0 at home and 3-0 in St. George.

The Wildcats topped the Trailblazers, 86-72 in St. George last season with ACU taking the season series with a 80-72 victory in Abilene 16 days later.

TRAILBLAZERS GO FOR THIRD STRAIGHT 2-0 START TO WAC PLAY
Utah Tech looks for its third straight 2-0 start to WAC play after opening conference action last season with wins at home over UT Arlington & Tarleton State and wins over Utah Valley & California Baptist in 2023-24.

UTAH TECH IN WAC ROAD OPENERS
The Trailblazers are 1-4 in WAC road openers with its lone victory coming at California Baptist on Dec. 6, 2023.

UTAH TECH IN WAC OPENERS
The Trailblazers improved to 4-2 in WAC openers on Monday with a 80-66 win over Southern Utah at Burns Arena.

It was the fourth straight season Utah Tech has won its WAC opener joining  wins over UT Arlington at home last season, Utah Valley at home in 2023-24 & UTRGV at home in 2022-23.

It was the fifth straight season Utah Tech opened WAC action at home after also opening the 2021-22 WAC slate at home against Tarleton State.

The Trailblazers opened WAC action in their inaugural season at UTRGV before hosting Grand Canyon in their first WAC home game on Jan. 22, 2021. 

LAST TIME OUT VS. SOUTHERN UTAH
A big second half surge powered the Trailblazers past Southern Utah, 80-66 to open WAC play on Monday night at Burns Arena.

A well-balanced offensive attack that saw five Trailblazers finish in double figures, Utah Tech was led by 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field by Noah Bolanga.

Madiba Owona added 16 points while Jusaun Holt tallied 14 points and dished out a team-best five assists.

Ethan Potter nearly notched a double-double finishing with 13 points & nine rebounds while Britton Berrett came off the bench to tally 10 points while drilling a pair of three-pointers.

The Trailblazers shot 44.9 percent (31-69) from the field, 43.5 percent (10-23) from three-point range and 61.5 percent (8-13) from the free throw line.

With the Trailblazers holding a narrow 41-39 lead over SUU at half, five straight points for Southern Utah got the second half started.

The Trailblazers responded with a 13-0 run over the next three minutes to push ahead, 54-44.

A three-pointer by SUU's Zach Bell ended the run for the Thunderbirds, but a layup by Potter and dunk by Owona pushed their lead back to double digits at 58-47.

Back-to-back three-pointers by Berrett kept UT in front by 11 (68-57) and a layup by Bolanga & a three-pointer by Owona extended the UT lead to 16 at 73-57 going on to win by a 14-point margin.

WHERE THE TRAILBLAZERS RANK IN THE WAC/NCAA IN 2025-26
Utah Tech comes into Thursday's game leading the WAC in three pointers made per game (7.6), three point attempts per game (24.5), & turnovers per game (12.9), is second in assist/turnover ratio (1.09) & is third in field goal percentage (47.1), scoring offense (78.5), & three point percentage defense (30.4).

Individually, Potter ranks second in the WAC in field goal percentage (58.6) & points per game (16.7) & is third in rebounds per game (7.3).

Trujillo is second in free throw percentage (86.8) and is fourth in minutes per game (32:08).

Bolanga leads the conference in three point attempts (93), ranks second in three-pointers made (26) and is fifth in minutes per game (31:24).

Holt ranks fourth in blocks per game (1.07) and Tanner Davis is fifth with 24 steals.

BALANCED SCORING ATTACK
For a second straight home game, the Trailblazers saw five players in double figures. 

It was the sixth contest this season UT has notched five or more double figure contests joining South Dakota (5), Bethesda (6), Manhattan (5), Nobel (5) & Justice (5).

Potter has registered double digits in 14 of the Trailblazers' 15 contests this season and has topped 20 or more points in five games.

Bolanga sits second with 10 double figure contests followed by eight from Holt, seven by Davis, six from Owona and five by Trujillo.

IN ALL EIGHT WINS
The Trailblazers have found a pair of commonalities, leading at half & shooting 40 percent or better from the field, in all eight of its wins this season.

THREE STRAIGHT CONTESTS OVER 50 PERCENT
For the first time since the 2022-23 season, the Trailblazers shot 50 percent or better from the field in three straight games after connecting on 50 percent at Creighton (Dec. 22) to go along with 51.8 percent at Weber State (Dec. 20) & 54.2 percent vs. Justice (Dec. 13).

POTTER NAMED WAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
For a second time this season, Potter was named the WAC Player of the Week on Dec. 22.

Potter notched his fifth 20-point performance of the season at Weber State on Dec. 20 after tallying a team-high 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and made the game-winning layup in the final seconds of a thrilling 82-80 win over the Wildcats.

In addition, the Utah Valley transfer grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds, dished out a pair of assists & added a block in 36 minutes of action.

It was Potter's second weekly WAC award of the season after also being named WAC Player of the Week on Dec. 1.

UP NEXT
The Trailblazers stay on the road next week traveling to California Baptist (10-4, 0-1 WAC) on Jan. 8 & Utah Valley (11-3, 1-0 WAC) on Jan. 10.